Microsoft Under DOJ Scrutiny Again

Wednesday’s edition of the Wall Street Journal
reported that Microsoft Corp. has come under scrutiny by the Justice Department
once again, this time for its investment in Corel Corp.

Microsoft invested $135 million in Corel Corp. last October
in a strategic alliance related to the company’s .NET initiative.

Microsoft would not comment on the nature of the Justice
Department’s request; however, Jim Desler, a Microsoft spokesman, said that the
request is “narrowly focused.”

Microsoft denied a report, however, that the Justice
Department was also looking into Microsoft’s purchase of Great Plains Software.
The Great Plains deal is simply going through the Hart-Scott Rodino process,
according to Desler, which is an “automatic” procedure implemented in a deal
such as the Microsoft-Great Plains deal. That process has been misconstrued as
a second DOJ investigation, said Desler.

Microsoft does not “believe there are legal issues with
either transaction and once reviewed the transactions will not be challenged,”
Desler said. – Isaac Slepner